He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.- Isaiah 40:29-31

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Spring break is supposed to be full of fun, sun and sand. Ours was planned for the wonderful Outer Banks and some relaxation. We had planned for a few roller coaster just not the roller coaster of life.

Our spring break has been full of hospitals, of course. I'll start by saying that last Saturday Joshua woke up with a fever. Jeff took him up to Hopkins where his counts were good enough not to be admitted but he needed IV antibiotics for both Saturday and Sunday. That resulted in two trips to Hopkins and ate up the weekend. Joshua was tested while there, and he was positive for a respiratory virus which explained the fever and his nasty cough. And so the fun begins.

Tuesday was the day that Joshua was scheduled for the OR and a spinal tap. That didn't happen because of the cough so we decided that since his counts were still good, we would go ahead with the chemo and bump the spinal until next month. By Tuesday night, Joshua was still doing well although he started steroids and therefore had an attitude. Jeff called from work to say that he wasn't feeling well and thought he had an ear/sinus infection. He made himself an appointment to see the doctor after work. Well sure enough he did have an infection and the doctor prescribed Augmentin, which Jeff had taken many times before. After getting home and eating dinner, he took the medication. It was about 40 minutes after that when Jeff and I had a conversation that went like this.

Jeff: I don't feel well.

Ami: Sorry. Augmentin can make you nauseous.

Jeff: I feel like I am going to pass out.

Ami: Really? That bad, huh?

Jeff: My lips and tongue are tingly.

Ami: Oh NO!

And so after I jumped up to get the phone and call 911, Jeff proceeded to pass out. An ambulance ride and ER visit confirms that Jeff is highly allergic to Augmentin and it dropped his blood pressure to extremely low levels. More fun for us but it doesn't stop there. After getting home by 4:30 am, I had Adam to the doctor by 10:30 am as he had a sinus infection and junky lungs too. More steroids and antibiotics for him. Will we ever catch a break? Maybe on our spring break vacation.

We were scheduled to leave on our vacation to the Outer Banks on Thursday evening. To give Jeff some time to recover, we decided to leave on Friday morning. The plan was to head to Williamsburg and visit Busch Gardens on Friday and then get up and leave for the Outer Banks on Saturday morning. True to Czorapinski form, we got off an hour later than we wanted and then got stuck in traffic so we finally arrived at Busch Gardens at 3:30 on Friday afternoon. Joshua wasn't feeling too well from the steroids so we weren't able to do much, but at least we got to go on a few rides. I was looking forward to the steroids wearing off and a nice week at the beach.

Saturday morning came along and we were off again. The drive to Nags Head was thankfully uneventful and we did a little shopping before our 4 pm check in. I have to say that the house on the beach was great but we would soon find out that we weren't meant to be there long. That is because by 5 am on Monday morning Joshua decided to spike a fever. Good thing I researched and we had rented a house right across the highway from the Outer Banks hospital. After getting a chest x-ray and labs run, Johns Hopkins decided it wanted Joshua in their care. Fine. Jeff and I would just put him in the car and make the 6 hour drive. Nope. Seems that since his ANC was a whopping 100, we needed to get a transport. A really cool transport.

Hopkins sent down it's MedEvac helicopter for Joshua. He and I loaded up and were on our way. As soon as we heard that they were sending the helicopter, Jeff hit the road so he wouldn't be far behind us. We had to leave Adam and Noah with the grandparents and now, we're here. Back in Maryland, back at Hopkins and back to reality. It just plain sucks. But, it's what is best and we know that. We're going to work on getting Joshua's virus gone, counts up and busting out of the hospital. We're also going to work on planning another vacation. Just maybe this one will be a little closer to home!

Our Boys

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About Us

Jeff and I were married on Novemeber 2, 2002. God gave us our son Noah on October 24, 2003. Then, he decided to give us two more miracles when I delivered identical twins, Adam and Joshua on June 20, 2005.

We thought life was complete chaos but we were surviving. Then, on April 17, 2006 at almost 10 months old, Joshua was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. He went through a very harsh 2 year treatment protocol and finished treatment on March 28, 2008. We were so ready to finally start to live life and be a normal family. Then, our second worst nightmare came true.

Joshua had an isolated testicular relaspe in May 2008. He started another 2 years of chemotherapy as well as testical radiation on May 20, 2008. We have had a rough life, but we are living! Joshua received his last dose of chemo on August 17, 2010.